Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
was born on September 5, 1888, in a middle class family in the pilgrim
town of Tirutani. His father, it is said, did not want his son to learn
English, instead wanted him to become a priest. However, the talents of
the boy were so outstanding that he was sent to school at Thirupati and
then Vellore. Later, he joined the Christian College, Madras, and studied
philosophy. Drawn by accident into philosophy, Radhakrishnan by his confidence,
concentration and strong convictions went on to become a great philosopher.

Philosophy and Life

His first book, "The Ethics of the Vedanta and Its
Material Presupposition"', being his thesis for the M.A. degree examination
of the Madras University, published in 1908, at once established his fame
as a great philosopher of undoubted ability. All his later works are landmarks
in their respective fields. Expressing abstract and abstruse philosophical
thoughts in intelligible language is considered very difficult. But Dr.
Radhakrishnan was one of the few who could accomplish this with ease and
simplicity.

To him, philosophy was a way of understanding life
and his study of Indian philosophy served as a cultural therapy. By interpreting
Indian thought in western terms and showing that it was imbued with reason
and logic he was able to give Indians a new sense of esteem, who were overcome
by inferiority complex by imperial forces. But he also made clear to them
that their long and rich tradition had been arrested and required further
evolution and he exhorted Indians to cast off much that was corrupt and
abhorrent.

Social Commitment

Dr. Radhakrishnan moved beyond being a mere academic
and sought to engage his philosophical and religious studies in the political
and social developments of the contemporary context.

He believed that in India, the philosopher's duty
was to keep in touch with the past while stretching out to the future.
This commitment to society, the crusading urgent tone in his scholarly
writings, the modern note in his interpretations of even classical texts
and his intellectual resistance to the deforming pressures of colonialism
gave Dr. Radhakrishnan a distinct public image. He was a coin minted differently
from the usual run of politicians and academicians.

Evocative Teacher

Far from being a stern and severe intellectual remote
from the world, Dr. Radhakrishnan was a very humane person. Exceedingly
popular among his students right from his early days as a professor at
Presidency College, Madras he was an evocative teacher. He was offered
the professorship in Calcutta University when he was less than 30 years
old. He served as Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University from 1931 to 1936.
In 1939, he was appointed the Vice Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University
.Two years later, he took over the Sir Sayaji Rao Chair of Indian Culture
and Civilisation in Banaras.

Recognition of his scholarship came again in 1936,
when he was invited to fill the Chair of Spalding Professor of Eastern
Religions and Ethics at Oxford which he retained for 16 years. His mastery
on his subject and his clarity of thought and expression made him a much
sought after teacher. But what made him even more popular was his warmheartedness
and his ability to draw out people. This aspect of his personality continued
to win him countless admirers throughout his long and illustrious public
life.

In the last decades of British rule, his was the
most sophisticated and exalted analysis of Gandhi's work and thought and
in free India he provided the ideological armour for Nehru's foreign policy.

International Acclaim

His commitment to high principles and unfailing dignity
lent nobility and moral authority to all the offices which he held. If
in India Dr. Radhakrishnan was a highly respected figure, abroad he became
one of the best-liked public figures of his time. He earned very early
international recognition as a philospher. In 1952, the Library of Living
Philosophers, an institute of world-wide repute, brought out a massive
volume on 'the philosophy of Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan' devoted wholly to
a critical appreciation of his philosophical doctrines.

After Independence, this philosophical luminary,
who personified the essence of India yet had a universal vision, became
an ideal ambassador to the Soviet Union, for the nascent nation poised
to establish itself in the international arena.

Leading the Nation

In 1952, Dr. Radhakrishnan was chosen to be the Vice
President of the Republic of India and in 1962, he was made the Head of
the State for five years. It was the glory of Indian democracy that an
educationist aloof from politics but with an international acclaim as a
profound scholar was placed in the position of the President. And it was
an advantage for a young country like India to have him to interpret its
domestic and foreign policies abroad to expound its outlook and aspirations
emphatically and in the rightway which was much needed in a world of uncertainity
and disbelief among nations.

His appointment as President was hailed by Bertrand
Russel who said "It is an honour to philosophy that Dr.Radhakrishnan should
be President of India and I, as a philosopher, take special pleasure in
this. Plato aspired for philosophers to become kings and it is a tribute
to India that she should make a philosopher her President".

History reserved for Radhakrishnan's term of office
as President much suspense and surprise. Within months of his ascendancy
in 1962 there was the Chinese invasion. The nation's morale was dealt a
blow but Radhakrishnan’s voice, firm and resolute came on the air
to reassure a shaken nation:

"Owing to the difficult terrain and numerical superiority
of the Chinese, we suffered military reverses. These have opened our eyes
to the realities of the situation. We are now aware of our inadequacies
and are alive to the needs of the present and the demands of the future.
The country has developed a new purpose, a new will".

In 1965, Pakistan violated our Western frontiers.
Dr Radhakrishnan in his broadcast to the nation on September 25, 1965 said,"Pakistan
assumed that India was too weak or too afraid or too proud to fight. India,
though naturally disinclined to take to arms felt the necessity to defend
herself when attacked. Pakistan also assumed that communal disturbances
would occur in the country and in the resulting chaos she could have her
way. Her miscalculations must have come to her as a rude shock."

Dr.Radhakrishnan had great faith in Indian democracy.
In his farewell broadcast to the Nation on May 12, 1967, he said that despite
occasional forebodings to the contrary, the Indian Constitution had worked
successfully so far. But democracy, he warned, was more than a system of
the Government. "It was a way of life and a regime of civilised conduct
of human affairs. We should be the architects of peaceful changes and the
advocates of radical reform", he said.

Great Teacher

It was in 1962 when Dr. Radhakrishnan became the
President of India that his birthday in September came to be observed as
'Teachers' Day'. It was a tribute to Dr.Radhakrishnan's close association
with the cause of teachers. Whatever position he held whether as President
or Vice President or even as Ambassador, Dr.Radhakrishnan essentially remained
a teacher all his life. The teaching profession was his first love and
those who studied under him still remember with gratitude his great qualities
as a teacher.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was one of his closest
friends throughout, said about Dr.Radhakrishnan: "He has served his country
in many capacities. But above all, he is a great Teacher from whom all
of us have learnt much and will continue to learn. It is India’s
peculiar privilege to have a great philosopher, a great educationist and
a great humanist as her President. That in itself shows the kind of men
we honour and respect."

Bharat Ratna, the highest award of the nation, was
conferred on him in 1954 in recognition of his meritorious service to mankind.

* 5th September, the birthday of
Dr. Radhskrishnan, is observed as Teacher's Day.